


Absent Friends

by a_lanart



Series: The O'Niall Chronicles [20]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Star Trek: Voyager, Torchwood
Genre: Community: consci_fan_mo, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_lanart/pseuds/a_lanart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 400 years in the future and Richie got to race starships just like he wanted to, as have some of his friends. Unfortunately, one of his friends went missing in space around 2373 but this is not her story, it's about those she left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absent Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Richie et al are owned by Panzer/Davis, Voyager is owned by Paramount.

~*~

Absent Friends

*

Methos wandered into the bar, his rangy frame momentarily haloed by light as he stood in the doorway, searching the darkened confines of Morgan's. Finally his eyes alighted on the object of his search, hidden in one of the darker, quieter corners. He approached carefully, pulling up a chair and taking a place on the opposite side of the table to the brooding figure.

"Richie."

"Methos." Richie barely raised his head to look at his friend, but took a long pull at his drink.

With a start, Methos realised what Richie was drinking. Not his usual, to say the least.

"Guinness?!"

Richie gave him a wry smile. "Yeah, I know. It just seemed… appropriate somehow."

"Maybe so, but alone?"

"Just remembering absent friends, that's all." Methos looked sharply at Richie.

"It's been almost two years, hasn't it?"

"Not almost. It is two years. Today. Or at least it's two years today that I found out. Ah shit..." Richie scrubbed his hands through his hair, and would have left it in a frightful mess if it had not been so short. "I miss her, Methos; as much now as when it first happened."

Methos waved one of the bar staff over and quietly ordered a drink, he definitely felt in need of liquid fortification before he spoke his mind. The drink arrived just as quietly, and he sipped at it gratefully for a while before returning his attention back to Richie. He steeled himself for the unwelcome reception of his words, but he felt what he was going to say was long overdue.

"After all this time, Rich, don't you think you'd better accept that Siannon's either dead or lost beyond her ability to return? No trace of her or the Merlin was ever found, and there's only the one very suspect account from that Akkarran contact of yours to suggest that something other than the rest of the Akkarrans shooting her down happened. Maybe it's time you moved on." Richie reacted much as Methos had expected, and exploded out of his chair to grab hold of Methos by his clothes, dragging him half out of his seat.

"Godammit, Methos! She. Is. Not. Dead," he hissed.

"I think she could be, but you just won't admit the possibility. Now put me down. Please?"

Richie released his hold on Methos before sinking back into his chair.

"You're wrong," he whispered. "You and Mac and Amanda, you're all wrong."

Methos sighed. While he could appreciate Richie not wanting to give up on Siannon, he was starting to get impatient with his younger friend's stubborn refusal to face reality. Desperately clinging onto hope wasn't always healthy, and often lead to heartache. Far better to relegate it to the back of ones mind and get on with the process of living; for an immortal there was a lot of living to do.

"It's been two bloody years, Richie!"

"And how often has it been five, or ten, or a hundred? We're immortal, for God's sake. And anyway," Richie fixed Methos with an earnest gaze, his blue eyes full of sincerity, "I know she's alive, I feel it here." He pointed to his chest. "While my head is trying to get me to agree with you, my heart keeps yelling that you're wrong. And where Siannon's concerned, I've learnt that listening to your heart is probably the best thing to do." Richie smiled slightly at Methos, who couldn't deny that he did have a point about listening to your heart being a good thing where Siannon was concerned. Richie continued. "You may think I'm deluded, or just plain stupid, but we share a connection. She's the closest friend I have. Closer than Mac, than you and Jack, than Amanda, even closer than Michelle. Every time I've needed her, she's been there. I think I'd know if I'd lost her forever. Right now she feels unbearably far away, and I'm not sure if we will ever see each other again, but she's not dead, not Siannon. Haven't you ever felt like that about someone?"

Methos stared at Richie; somehow, the younger man always managed to surprise him. He should be used to it by now.

"A few times; not often," Methos said.

"Were you right?"

"Usually."

"So you believe me?"

"Yes, I think I do. It's just that I tend not to be quite so… openly vehement in my beliefs as you; that's something you have in common with Siannon." Methos smiled and raised his glass in a toast. "To absent friends."

"To absent friends," Richie echoed, then added; "And their safe return, no matter how long it takes."

"I'll drink to that," said Methos. So they did.


End file.
